Just Ask About My Son With Down Syndrome
There have been many times since I became a Mama in the T21 club that I have wished, hoped and yearned that more people had the instinct to ask me about my son.
My son, Benny, has Down syndrome.
That is a fact, and a fact I am more than comfortable with. It is a fact I embrace whole-heartedly. What I am not comfortable with are the times I am often faced with when people stare at us and whisper. I do not embrace the moments when people casually use the word “r*t*rd*d” or “slow” around me and fail to understand the power those words have.
Recently, a fellow Mama in the Detroit area did what I wish everyone would do: she asked the questions.
Chel Bell Guild invited me to her web series titled #FromHereToThere and asked me to educate her, to allow her a moment to clear up how her words matter. This, my friends, is more than anyone can ask for. As a mama to a baby boy with Down syndrome, I don’t expect you to know or understand our world as well as I do, but I would love for you to ask the question.
Just Ask.
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Jamie Freeman is a blogger and mama to a beautiful baby boy named Benny who happens to have Down syndrome. She lives with her husband and son just outside of Detroit near where she grew up.
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